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Discover The DISCover Console
Thanks to GameShark.com for their interview with Curtis Kaiser of DISC regarding their forthcoming DISCover "PC game console". Kaiser describes the DISCover as "a game console that plays unmodified PC games. As with a PlayStation or Xbox, you simply drop the disc into the console and play. The difference is the video game consoles can only play games made for their proprietary formats, while the DISCover can play the thousands of available PC titles." Entry-level models will be priced from $299, and the company is trying to tout ease of use as the biggest advantage of buying the DISCover over a normal PC - "...patching scripts will be received through the DISCover network. Patches will automatically be applied to any installed program or they will be applied as part of the installation process."
The DISCover® game console is the only game console designed to play PC games instead of video games.
XBox? Indrema? Phantom? Pippin? I know there is a necessary threshold of bs when reading press releases, and I know we're supposed to swallow more than this, but the lack of knowledge doesn't bode well.
Besides, that threshold is quickly exceeded.
The Pentium®4, along with today's graphic and audio processors allow for PC games with awesome visual and audio effects.
Here comes that threshold. According to the Gamers.com article, the $300 price tag will get you a Via processor, not the touted intel P4. For a P4, you need to pay $700, or roughly the cost of a P4 system. And there is an even MORE expensive version in the pipeline, with TIVO capability. Do you expect "awesome visual and audio effects" from that $200 Wallmart machine?
There are thousands PC games, far more than video games, in proprietary formats (i.e. PlayStation2 and Xbox). And the best games are made for the PC.
Bad punctuation aside, how many of those games are worth playing? You too can have 9,999 Bust-A-Move clones on your own device! AAA titles are as rare on the PC as they are on the PS2, as they both require large development houses and a large outlay in manpower to create.
Until now serious gamers were required to install and run computer programs on a PC. With DISCover's patented technology, the PC is no longer the only place to play PC games. PC games, with their dazzling graphics and stunning audio, can now be played on a TV hassle free.
They patented video out to a TV? Or did they patent playing games from an installer without actually installing. Did they do anything to deserve a patent on playing PC games on a TV? Commodore 64? TV-Out? XBox? Linux on PS?
As a game console, DISCover® is connected to a TV, not to a computer monitor. To play any one of thousands of PC games on TV, you simply Drop the game in the DISCover® and play.
BTW, standard TVs run at a maximum resolution of 640 x 480 interlaced. Many modern computer games don't even support a resolution that low. In other words, games will not look nearly as good on your TV as they do on a computer monitor.
Picking apart their press releases aside, I fail to see the point of this console. It plays PC games, so it is redundant to anyone who owns a gaming PC. It plays on a television, so graphics will be inferior. What they appear to be trying to do is sell a PC gaming machine to console people by telling them that consoles, in short, suck. That's like trying to gain votes for the democratic party by calling the republicans inferior and stupid, and wondering why people don't feel swayed by your compelling arguments.
But don't let me say it: Let's hear from their own mouths.
Markets: Our market is the digital interactive entertainment market, in particular the $9 billion game markets. Individuals who would enjoy playing PC games on their TV are the specific target in this market. At the low-end of the market are video gamers who would like to move up to PC games (ages 12-25); at the high end of the are PC gamers who would like to move from their computer monitor to their big-screen home-theater (ages 25-45). The middle market is made up of those who would like PC games and other PC entertainment on their TV, as well as having a DVD, DVR and movies on demand.
On the one hand, you have young people who want to play PC games, but who can't afford a PC. Because targeting markets with no money is the right way to launch a product. On the other hand, you have people with money and high-end theater systems, but who haven't discovered their high-tech PC comes standard with an SVideo out port. And finally, you have those people who are swarming out to buy a set-top box, to rent movies-on-demand and to buzzword their buzzword with B.U.Z. and W.R.D. disks.
There are other problems: One
The ______ Agenda